I'd like to, but I can't. Yesterday morning, I learned that a guy that used to go to my school was stabbed to death. I didn't really know him like that, but we followed each other on Twitter and have had at least one short conversation before. It affected me so much because his murder hit so close to home...we weren't close, but he and a lot of people I know were. When I saw the first "RIP Rodney Kyles" tweet in my timeline, I was in disbelief. It seemed like everyone in Chicago was somehow connected to him, or knew someone who was, because before long his name became a trending topic on Twitter. I thought that that was amazing, how much love he was shown and how many lives he's affected.His murder just brings up an even bigger concern that I've addressed before. The senseless violence has to stop. It's not just Chicago, but everywhere. Chicago is an amazing city and has the potential to be even better, but it starts with the inhabitants. It sucks to say it, but our generation is fucked up and I just hope we aren't in too deep to fix it. When I heard about Rodney's death, my first thought was that I need to get outta Chicago, but what good will that do? It's the people. It's the people who feel like picking up a gun makes them more of a man than picking up a book. It's the people who join gangs instead of joining clubs. It's the people who's messed up beliefs have them out here gunning down anyone who looks at them the wrong way or says something they don't like. Where has the value for human life gone? Who the fuck said it was okay to take it upon yourself to end someone else's?
What we need is a change, and I just hope it comes before it's too late. This needs to be a wake up call. Our generation is killing each other off, and it's getting out of hand. Although I didn't really know Rodney like that, I could tell that he was intelligent and ambitious. He didn't deserve to lose his life.
We need to wake up. RIP, Rodney.
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